INEQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITIES AND THE ARAB SPRING Melani Cammett Political Science Brown University

“Bread, Freedom, and Social Justice!”

Oil rents and mass uprisings Mass Uprising YesNo Oil rents High Bahrain Libya Algeria Kuwait Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia UAE Low Egypt Syria* Tunisia Yemen* Jordan Morocco

Increasing state repression Repression and Freedom Indices, Average of All Arab Countries Source: Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Dataset, various years.

Post-Independence Human Development Achievements in the MENA: Infant Mortality

The Rollback of the State Government Spending and Private Investment as a Percentage of GDP (Developing Arab Countries)

The Decline of the MENA State in Cross-Regional Perspective General Government Final Consumption as a Percentage of GDP, Various Global Regions in Selected Years

MENA Fuel Subsidies in Cross-Regional Comparative Perspective

Public Health Spending/GDP (Selected MENA countries)

Public spending on health/total govt. revenues (Selected MENA countries)

Educational Performance (Selected countries) Country MathScience Egypt Jordan Lebanon Morocco Syria Tunisia Turkey Bulgaria Malaysia (Source: TIMSS, 8 th Grade Level, 2007)

2011 TIMSS Results (Math, 8 th grade)

Insecurity & Risk Exposure in MENA Health Systems Example: Out-of-Pocket Spending on Health/Total Spending on Health, selected countries and regions ( ) Source: World Development Indicators, various years